Smart Thinking, Smartlinking

摘要

Performance matters, but is difficult to quantify in the dynamic marine environment. In this paper, we will open a window on to the future of day-to-day tug performance evaluation and marine pilot/ tug team integration. The paper describes the product development and field testing of a lightweight load cell, or Smartlink™, designed for use in day-to-day operations on board tugboats. The Smartlink offers a range of functions including: 1. accurate in-line load read-out 2. automatic recording towline service history 3. automatic data-point generation for tug performance evaluation. The Smartlink (patent pending) turns everyday operations into an (escort) trial, in which the number of available data points grows day by day.